Change will be a major theme throughout UL spring practice.
Thursday was the first official practice of the Michael Desormeaux Era, outside of New Orleans bowl prep. It's an entirely new coaching staff, outside of offensive coordinator Tim Leger. There are new players and guys wearing new numbers.
But the Cajuns say that the one thing that will remaim the same is the culture.
"When you got a culture it's not about who leaves and who goes, you know, because it's the culture," Cajuns Tight End Johnny Lumpkin explained. "So for example, Louisiana has it's own culture. Mardi Gras is always gonna be around February, no matter who comes, who goes. Mardi Gras is the culture of Louisiana. Right? So us as Ragin' Cajuns we have our culture already developed, it's already built and ingrained in us."
"It always helps when the things that you've done have produce results," Desormeaux said. "So our kids believe completely in what we do and the new coaches and support staff that are here they believe in it too, and they're excited to be a part of it. So you know, when there's a standard in place, the standards the standard and everybody wants to live up to and try to raise the bar."
"We still got a lot of old faces around here. So when we go out there on that field, it's the players," Cajuns Defensive End Andre Jones said. "We still got a bunch of players that's been here. Even if they weren't starting, weren't playing a lot, they know the standard. As Leaders, we gotta be more vocal, you know, say like hey, this is the standard. We have set the bar high, so people will still expect us to reach the ceiling and go past the ceiling."
UL will hold 15 practices over the next month in preparation for their Spring Game on April 9, at Cajun Field. No time has been announced yet, but the event will be free to the public.
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